It is not just about the jewels collection in the Historic Green Vault. The are many other…read morecollections of functional art. Great collection of presentation grade arms and armor. Really impressed with the items from the Ottomann Empire. Everything displayed were very nicely restored and presented for up close viewing. Almost everything was identified and explained in English along with German. The free audio guide in English and many other languages was very useful. Really appreciate this museum's effort to accommodate non German speakers. A must visit place when in Dresden. Buy the two day combined ticket. A good bargain if you want to visit the Zwinger as well. Sorry, no photos allowed. Hope my words helps with your decision to visit.

This is one of the branches of exhibits at the Zwinger. This branch is much shorter than the…read moreporcelain one, so I would recommend starting with this exhibit. It starts with the rare clock section and then ends with globes. The clocks are interesting, and you can also see the inner intricacies and workings of the clocks. Many of the designs are unique and feature Gods like Zeus and even horoscopes. I especially liked the world clock that has 100 smaller clocks on its face so that you can track multiple timezones simultaneously. The globe section is also interesting but is very short. You will find many older globes in the past depicting monsters in different sections of the world. The way the globes are drawn and mathematically measured is also interesting to see. Enjoy!

I'm a watch nerd, so I wanted to really love this place. And I did, but I think it could have been…read morebetter. Starting with what worked, the museum presents a really exhaustive chronological timeline of the development of the watch industry in the town, completely with lots and lots of artifacts as examples - some truly impressive. Gorgeous hand finished work of art, marine chronometers that went to the North Pole, pilot's watches manufactured for WWII. You learn a lot about the founding personalities as well as the manufacturing firms involved, and the museum does a similarly good job of covering how the town and the industry worked through Soviet dismantling of the factories post WWII, operations behind the Iron Curtain, and the quartz revolution, before the more recent renaissance with super lux brands that I can only dream about. There is also a great audio guide - very detailed and worth listening to. I really liked the Glashütte Original sponsored exhibit on the ground floor showing how one of their more complicated watches worked - a projector shines on a round table that shows a sort of x-ray view inside the watch movement, highlighting which pieces are involved, how gears and levers move, etc. But that cool cutaway exhibit just made me notice how much "watch basics" are missing from this museum. To be fair, the museum is not selling itself as "how watches work," it's "watchmaking in this town." But I still feel like a little more explanation of the basics of how watches work could help people understand more of the exhibits, which lay on some fairly specific watchmaking terms. There is an upstairs room with a multimedia "glossary" - which would take hours to go through - but just a basic animation of how a movement goes together, what the wheels do, etc. You have to go a little out of your way to visit, and you need to like watches to want to visit, I think, but if that's up your alley, this is a great side trip, especially if you're already in the area. It's an easy drive from Dresden.

The Residence Castle, is directly next to the "Green Vault", oder Historisches Und Neues Grünes…read moreGewölbe. Like the Green Vault, is it filled with the family heirlooms. It's incredible how many items they have been able to recover and put on display after the War. Plan to spend at least 2-3 hours here and yes, there is an incredible multi-language bookstore/gift shop which I spent too much in €€€€

A great value with an amazing collection. It was almost too much to take in! The alarmed displays…read moreare a great way to alert staff when someone gets too close without impeding viewability. I appreciated being able to go at our own pace & highly recommend taking a closer look at the details on some of the displayed items. For example, one knife handle has detsiled images on cameos the size of my fingernail embedded. The display glass was crystal clear (I saw a few people bonk their heads leaning in), and the lighting was reflection free- truly stunning display cases. I would gladly go back

As an overview, this is supposed to be a world-class museum summarizing the history of the German…read moremilitary. Perhaps analogize this museum to a Smithsonian in the U.S. The musuem's website boasts: "The Bundeswehr Museum of Military History in Dresden is one of the three major historical museums in Germany, as well as one of the most innovative military museums in the world." But from a museum management and facilities perspective, this museum is a national embarrassment to Germany. Why? Because the museum has completely inadequate lighting. During our visit, the lights were completely turned off in the 1300-1914 exhibit for the first two hours. We literally had to use our phone as flashlights to read anything. The overall the lighting is bad in other areas where the lights were on. The museum website should openly tell people the museum lacks lighting and visitors should bring their own flashlights. If the lighting had been working, I would have given this museum 5 stars. But I rate museums based on actual experience, not aspirational wants. Getting past the lighting fiasco, the museum's chronological coverage of German military history is logical and well-developed. Seeing WWI and WWII through another historical lens is always interesting (as an aside, I strongly recommend the Yasukuni Shrine and its war museum Yūshūkan in Tokyo for an interesting perspective on WWII). Concerning some of the more detailed exhibits, we consistently encountered exhibits with no design and forethought. For example, in one area with vertical pullouts concerning varying views on Napoleon, the pullouts would not extend far enough out to see the whole exhibit. In other areas, videos did not play. I was shocked by the non-functional displays and backwardness in this museum. On the positive side, some of the displays were truly unique including the display on animals used by militaries. Consider skipping the displays on floor 3. Floor 3 has the strangest, tightly spaced, ridiculous vertical displays I've even seen anywhere. Overall cleanliness: Excellent Bathroom cleanliness: Excellent Snack bar: closed when we visited Viewing station of downtown Dresden: impaired visibility due to the building design but worth a quick peek. Time budget: minimum 3-4 hours

NOTE: bring a flash light to see the displays…read more Arrival: this is far from the Dresden city center, but we took the tram here. Google assisted and we were able to take tram 7 here. It was 9 stops and took roughly 23 minutes to arrive. It was an easy walk from the tram to the museum. It was lightly snowing on the walk over. It is a neat modern/classic building that is very nice to look at. The top has a look out of Dresden, but the railing and roof system makes it very hard to see the view. Negatives: 1. there is a sign posted at the museum ticket counter that was a bit odd. It said they do not have replacement bulbs, I thought it was odd. The museum displays more than half have no bulbs. So bring a flashlight or be prepared to use your phone to light the displays because the displays are mounted on black material and in the morning with no sunlight you cannot read anything. There are windows, but they are permanently closed. 2. There is no WiFi. 3. Anything with an interactive video monitor does not work. This is a wonderful military museum with a great deal of history to read and there is a lot of reading to be done while at this museum. The font is a bit small so be prepared to squint in the dark if you don't have a flashlight or in some displays you cannot read anything at all. There are some odd ways of displaying items in the museum, like vertical parallel displays that you have to squeeze between people to look at in the dark with very narrow openings. The museum has military items from paintings, books, clothing, propaganda, children toys, and how each member of the family and including animals were used during the war. There is a coat room to put your coat for storage so you don't have to take it along with you. The museum is quite hot. Cafe: closed Bathrooms: above average cleanliness Cleanliness: above average

The art of Kunsthofpassage is beautiful and unique. It's great that you can stroll around and enjoy…read moreit while you shop and dine. Of course, the coolest sites you cannot miss are the blue-walled pipe building and the giraffe eating the side of a building!

Outdoor murals have long added much-needed color and character to city neighborhoods. I would…read morerecommend Kunsthofpassage in particular for several reasons. First, these works are a refreshing departure from your typical wall murals in that they are all textured in one way or another. The blue wall is an obvious favorite, and I imagine that would be a particular delight if you happen to catch visiting it in the rain. Second, the outer Neustadt neighborhood is a lively area away from the tourist crowds of the old city. The old city is great for its grandeur and history but that's not where the life of the city is. Finally, if you stop to dine at Lila Sossa, a lovely little restaurant nestled into these courtyards, you'll be rewarded. Their tapas-style offerings are thoughtful and delicious.